Bristow & Sutor

Misschelle_2

Hi all, I wonder if someone could give me some advice please......

We have a council tax debt that has been passed to the lovely people (:mad:) at Bristow and Sutor. We had originally a tried to set up a payment plan with them which they rejected and demanded £300 month which we have been paying. Unfortunately my other half has been ill and had been signed off work for the past 6 weeks so we have been living on a very limited income and happened to miss the December payment to B&S. We have today received a letter from them saying that they want the full amount owing (now £840) by the 7th Jan. I have this evening emailed them and offered to pay half on the 15th Jan and the other half on the 19th Feb - I think this is a pretty reasonable offer taking everything into consideration!! However after reading other posts on here I am not confident that they are going to accept this offer - more worryingly in the letter they state that if payment is not received that will remove my car for auction, this car is currently on HP - can they do this??

I have never spoken or seen the bailiff face to face so can only presume that they visited my property whilst I was not here. I really just want to pay this debt and am trying my hardest to do so without my possessions being removed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Michelle

Misschelle_2

Just a bump - i need some help

RobertoMoir

Ok. one of the site regulars, Herbie21, runs a very good website (http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/). Using the resources on this website is probably one of the best ways to get help.

Can the bailiffs take a car that doesn't belong to you?
A car purchased under HP doesn't belong to you and hence can't really be taken, (not sure if this changes once you own more than 50% of the car, and note it really must be HP, not a loan from a private finance company that is simply managed via the garage).

Have the bailiffs levied on any goods at the house? If so, they can only take what they've levied on (and that assumes the levy is valid...)

As for repayments, I'd personally judge your offer to pay the debt off in two months as a pretty reasonable once. I'd contact the council concerned and tell them the bailiffs are refusing to let you pay off the council's debt. Councils always enjoy that one.

I'm going to repost some general advice I've posted on what bailiffs can and can not do.

You shouldn't allow them into your home, but if they have a warrant that allows them to do so, it's up to them to attempt to gain entry peacefully, not for you to tell them whether or not you allow them to! I'm a former bailiff and we never used to take much notice of what people told us they were going to "allow" us to do, we simply concentrated on what we were legally entitled to do.

Ok. For this kind of debt, unless the bailiff has been into your house already and has levied distress on goods in the house and got you to sign a document called a 'walking possession' then they cannot force their way into your house.

They only have the right to gain 'peaceable entry' (presuming my assumptions are correct about them not being in before).

• Peaceable entry doesn't include kicking your door down or getting a locksmith to drill your locks. This is something they can't do.
• Peaceable entry does include tricking someone into letting them in "Oh really? You say you've spoke to the council, can I come in to use your phone to double-check what they said?"
• Peaceable entry does include climbing in through an open window or going round the back to try your back door in case you forgot to lock it.

Speak to the council and find out for yourself if they won't accept an arrangement from you. Some will and some won't in my experience. If they do, great; if they don't, then it isn't like you've lost anything or incurred more costs just for asking.

Be very careful about letting the bailiff into your house to levy distress. Once they're in, they have the right to remove goods there and then. Not saying they will, in fact they probably won't because they'd rather have the money, but you do need to understand the stakes that you're playing with at this point.